


just another routine mission

by ladydetective



Series: Roisa Fic Week Summer 2017 [3]
Category: Jane the Virgin, Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mass Effect Fusion, F/F, Roisa Fic Week Summer 2017
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-01 06:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11480898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydetective/pseuds/ladydetective
Summary: Rose Ruvelle is earthborn and her ruthlessness has earned her quite the reputation within the Systems Alliance.Luisa Alver was born on space, daughter of a prominent politician and is a rising star in the medical world.Both find themselves posted on the SSV Normandy. What could possibly go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gunpowdereyes (nearlymidnight)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nearlymidnight/gifts).



> Note the questionmark next to the amount of chapters. This was meant to be a threeshot covering the trilogy but my brain went. . . "Nah, do you know what you need? Another multichapter." Perfect.  
> This is based on the Mass Effect games, but it isn't necessary for you to have played them. It's more about the dynamic between Rose and Luisa than it is any major plot points - most of the scenes will be Rose checking in with Luisa after important mission, which will probably get brief summaries. They really don't matter to the plot. I would reccomend the games though, they're excellent. And have a cool f/f romance.

In the years after interstellar travel became a reality for humanity due to the discovery of mass effect technology in the year 2149 CE, a fever of discovery gripped the human race. The wealthy – those that could afford to operate their own spaceships – took to the stars in search of bigger and better things. They rarely looked back towards the earth – which had become polluted to dangerous levels after years of neglect – and settled in newly found colonies or even in hubs of galactic trade, mingling with newly discovered species and taking their wealth with them. Earth consequently underwent a kind of planet-wide urban decay, earning a reputation as cold and largely inhospitable.

Criminal activity was rife, and gangs became very powerful. They were able to exert considerable power over domestic governments, even sometimes ensuring that puppet officials were appointed. It was hard for earthborn children to avoid coming into contact with the gangs, and many did not even try, enjoying the power and control that membership of such an organisation provided.

Rose Ruvelle was one such child. Her parents had died when she was very young, leaving her to fend for herself. Other children in her position had done anything possible to avoid the gang life, but why should she? It put food on the table, a roof over her head and taught her valuable skills. Yes, some of the jobs were dangerous, but Rose – even at such an early age – thrived on danger, or at least the rush she got from avoiding it, from outsmarting her enemies, from performing manoeuvres that other, less capable members could only dream of.

She’d learned to fight with the gang – combat training, at first. They taught her to use a range of guns – submachine guns, assault rifles, snipers – but it was a simple pistol that she preferred. Pistols were small, easy to disguise on her person but packed one hell of a punch. Then her biotics had manifested, and her value to her employers had immediately skyrocketed. They’d had her fitted with a cheap Lx2 implant in order to magnify her talent – more top of the range ones were available only to the alliance, and despite her promise, they hadn’t been willing to risk a raid for her sake. The implant caused debilitating headaches, but Rose powered through – she was determined to succeed, determined to make something of herself.

As she got older, she began to earn quite the reputation within the gang. She was their best operative, their most potent weapon – until, of course, she got caught. Captain David Anderson offered her a choice – prison, likely for a very long time if she even managed to escape the death penalty, or military service in the Alliance. It had been an easy choice.

Rose had made a good merc – or gang member, depending on a person’s political views – but she’d made an even better soldier. The alliance had offered her a level of training and equipment that she’d scarcely been able to dream of, back on earth. The regular and disciplined nature of the army further honed her combat skills, turning a once impressive operative into a truly formidable opponent. They’d done the best that they could with her mess of an implant, too – she’d undergone surgery to remove the Lx2 and replace it with an Lx5. Her biotics were now more powerful and came at less of a cost – but the damage to her brain had been done, and the headaches would never go away entirely.

Rose climbed quickly and mercilessly up the Alliance ranks, gaining a new title almost with every passing year. She was earning herself quite the reputation, too – she was ruthless, willing to do whatever it took to get the job done. Her methods sometimes rubbed Alliance brass up the wrong way, but even they could not deny her results.

Then Torfan happened. There had been so much blood – so much slaughter – that it affected even Rose. But she saw no other alternative – failure had not been an option. Though she was loath to admit it, the things she did at Torfan would haunt her for months to come. But it did get her noticed by Alliance brass – noticed in a way they could not ignore.

It had presented her with an opportunity – the opportunity to become the very first human spectre. She liked the sound of that, and she would not let anything stand in her way.

And all she needed to do was complete a routine mission on Eden Prime. . .

* * *

 

Luisa had grown up in space – on the Citadel, to be precise. Her father – though a general in the First Contact War with the turians – had become quite the politician during peacetime, rising as quickly through the bureaucratic ranks as he had the military ones. Presently, he was Human Ambassador to the Citadel Council, the highest political position it was possible for a human to possess at an Intergalactic level.

Her father’s career had meant that Luisa had never lived on earth – she’d always been in space. She’d had a happy childhood, surrounded by a mish-mash of different cultures. She’d spent her formative years interacting with turians, asari, salarians and krogan, as well as any number of other species. In fact, she was more used to spending time with aliens than she was other humans – as the galaxy’s newcomers, there hadn’t been very many in the rather exclusive area she’d lived in. She’d shared her first kiss with an asari long before she’d had one with a human woman.

As she’d grown older, her father had wanted her to follow in his footsteps and join the military, to continue furthering the family name on a galactic level. Even the notion horrified Luisa – she hated violence, and couldn’t think of anything worse than perpetuating humanity’s alarming penchant for it.

No, what she wanted to be was a Doctor. Medicine had advanced so much over the past couple hundred years, and there were now cures in place for diseases once believed to be incurable. She wanted to be there, putting those cures into action.

But her father refused to relent. In the end, they came up with a compromise – Luisa would receive her medical training with the alliance, and spend at least a few years serving as a medical officer on military vessels. It turned out to be an agreeable solution – the Alliance were a wealthy and powerful faction, able to provide her with the very best training. She figured that helping to treat the people that these pointless wars injured – both soldier and civilian - would be a worthwhile thing to do. The only downside was the mandatory combat lessons, but she reasoned that one day – whether she liked it or not – there may come a time when she was forced to use them. It was a dangerous galaxy, and part of her job involved walking on to active combat zones in order to extract and treat her patients.

Luisa made an excellent military surgeon, becoming quite renowned in her field. She’d serve on a ship for months at a time, treating the wounds of injured soldiers and monitoring the general wellbeing of the crew. She rather liked it – it was different from a hospital, where the patients rotated on an almost daily basis. She got to really know her crewmates, learn what made them tick – that could make it difficult if they sustained injuries there was no coming back from – but under her expert care, that wasn’t something that happened often.

Her skill and growing reputation as one of the best ensured that she was moved around regularly – alliance brass often wanted her assigned to ships set to undergo some of the most dangerous missions.

She was due to start a new posting in a just a few short days, as a matter of fact – on a new ship, a combination of turian and human design in a show of mutual co-operation. She was assured that the medical supplies would be top of the line, and that the crew consisted of some of the most colourful characters in the alliance.

Yes, life on the SSV Normandy should prove very interesting.

* * *

 

Rose came back to consciousness slowly, and it took her a moment to ascertain where she was. Her head felt oddly foggy, scenes from that haunting vision playing over and over again in her mind. She opened her eyes hesitantly, only to snap them shut immediately, dazzled by the white light.

Someone chuckled from across the room. ‘Glad to see you’re awake.’

The voice was feminine, low and sweet but tinged with no small amount of concern. It was a nice voice, and Rose found herself wanting to know the source. She tried opening her eyes again, more slowly this time in order to avoid the same rush of light. She blinked rapidly, and realised that she was in the ship’s medbay. That probably made sense, considering that the last thing she remembered was blacking out after coming into contact with the beacon.

‘Don’t try to sit up,’ said the voice – which Rose presumed belonged to the new doctor – as she came in closer to her. When Rose saw her for the first time, she wondered briefly if she was still dreaming. She was beautiful – long, dark hair that curled prettily at the tips, smooth, tanned skin and big, kind eyes that were currently narrowed at her in concern.

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but the other woman managed to get there first. ‘I’m Dr. Alver. I’ve been assigned to the Normandy as Medical Officer.’ She took a towel and wiped down Rose’s forehead. ‘How are you feeling? You weren’t in the best of states when you came in here.’

Rose’s head was swimming and she felt vaguely nauseous, but she needed to go see the Captain. The things she’d seen in that vision – the death, the destruction, those. . . strange machines -  it could change everything. ‘Fine,’ she said. It would have been convincing too, if she hadn’t vomited the moment she tried to sit.

Luisa gave her a knowing look, and helped pull her hair out of her face. ‘That’s a side effect of the head injury. It’ll calm down on its own, but if it doesn’t you can come back here and I’ll give you a cold compress. I _did_ tell you not to sit up.’

Rose reluctantly lay back down, but did not look happy about it. ‘I need to talk to the Captain. The things that happened on that mission –’

‘Can wait until you are fit to move,’ said Luisa sternly. She sighed, seeing that Rose remained unconvinced, ‘Fine. Why don’t you tell me what happened, and I will decide whether or not the information is vital enough to risk damaging your health to deliver.’

The tone of her voice suggested that she would deem no intel vital enough for that. Rose needed to convince her otherwise. She took a deep breath, not even sure where to start. This was not the kind of mission she was used to – but then again, she prided herself on being flexible, able to adapt to any situation as they came up. She could do the same for this, too. ‘I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but after I came into contact with the beacon – Prothean in design – I had this sort of. . . vision? A vision of. . . I don’t even know, some kind of apocalypse. There was so much suffering, so much. . . red, and these machines. . . they were unlike anything I’ve ever seen.’

Luisa cocked her head to the side, interested. It was possible that this was just a hallucination – the redhead had hit her head very hard, after all. She hoped that that was the case, anyway, because the things that Rose were describing. . . they were apocalyptic. ‘Do you think that you could have imagined it? That it could have been a product of your head injury?’

Rose shook her head vehemently – which turned out to be a bad idea, as it made her vision blur and caused nausea to rise dangerously close to the surface once more – but she powered on. She had to make Luisa believe her. ‘I know it sounds crazy – believe me, I know – but I know what I saw. It happened right before I lost consciousness, I was fully awake at the time. I – I’ve been seeing it ever since.’

Luisa noticed with a start that the other woman seemed genuinely shaken by this. She’d heard of the infamous Rose Ruvelle’s reputation – anyone remotely associated with the Alliance had – and it wasn’t. . . this. Beneath the sheets, Luisa could see that her hands were shaking despite her efforts to contain it. There was a sheen of sweat over her forehead and an almost manic look in her eyes. No nightmare could have done that.

‘Okay,’ said Luisa, softly, ‘The Captain needs to know. But,’ she said sharply, her voice becoming more strict, ‘You’re not to get out of bed. He’ll come to you.’

Rose tried to protest. ‘The Captain won’t come just because you call him. He’s a busy man, but he needs to know this.’

Luisa moved to block her path. ‘He’ll come for me. Now, will you sit down? I need to properly examine your injuries.’ She pressed a button on her omni-tool, paging the Captain and flagging it as urgent. He’d be down to them as soon as he could. She busied herself with examining Rose’s head injury – it really did look like it’d be fine, with some rest and relaxation. Something told her that Rose wasn’t the type for that, however.

‘There,’ she said, finishing the checkup. ‘You should be fine within a couple of days. Are you in pain anywhere else?’

‘No,’ mumbled Rose, almost petulantly.

Luisa fixed her with a stern look, and Rose relented. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘My wrist is a little sore. I think I might have landed on it badly.’

She picked up the wrist gently, but Rose still winced. Luisa shot her a disapproving glare. ‘You could have told me about this earlier. It’s my job to help you get better, you know.’ She looked at the wrist, prodding it carefully. ‘It’s just a sprain, but still. If you’d gone out into the field like this, it could have slowed your reactions enough that you’d sustain a serious injury.’

Rose sighed with annoyance, but found that the action caused her pain around her torso. ‘Fine, fine. I . . . guess I should tell you about the pain in my ribs, then?’

‘Yes,’ said Luisa, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth at the other woman’s almost sheepish tone despite herself, ‘that would be very helpful.’

They worked in silence for some time after that, Luisa treating Rose’s less obviously visible injuries. After a while, however, the silence began to become somewhat. . . awkward. Luisa had never liked prolonged silence, having grown up on a busy station constantly surrounded by hustle and bustle, and always sought to fill the awkward pauses when she could.

‘So,’ she said, after a beat, ‘You have quite the reputation within the Alliance. A biotic prodigy, a veteran of a hundred battles. . . some even call you the Butcher of Torfan.’

Rose smiled as the other woman listed her achievements. She’d worked hard to be where she was today, to cultivate the reputation that she had – a thrill always ran through her when people brought it up, regardless of the tone that they used. And unlike a lot of Alliance Brass, Luisa didn’t seem judgemental about it – it was curiosity tinging her voice, not distaste. It was something of a new sensation.

‘I could say the same for you, you know. One of the most eminent doctors in Citadel space, having served on some of the most well-regarded war vessels. And,’ she said, a thought coming to her, ‘Wasn’t it you who saved the life of the asari councillor?’ Rose wasn’t an idiot – she carried out meticulous research on every new crew member on board her – or well, Captain Anderson’s, ship. It was a holdover from her days in the gang, when placing your trust in the wrong person could end with your brains splattered across the pavement. Now that the haze of the head injury was beginning to lift as a result of the pain medication that Luisa had given her, that information was coming back to her.

Luisa blushed, and shrugged. It wasn’t unusual for people to heap accolades onto soldiers and to sing their praises, but it was decidedly stranger to hear the same talk about the doctors that ensured that they lived to do so. ‘It was mostly by chance, I was the only capable doctor nearby. But yeah, I did.’ The asari councillor had thanked her in private after she had made her recovery, most _profusely_. Thinking about it still made Luisa blush a little.

Rose made note of the way that Luisa’s cheeks coloured and cocked her head inquiringly. There was a story behind  _that_ , she was sure. She found herself growing intrigued almost despite herself – Rose may always make a point of talking to everyone on the ship, but she was seldom actually _interested_ in what they had to say. She made a performance of it, of course – made all the right noises, asked all the right questions – it was just that most people tended to . . . bore her. This doctor seemed to be an exception.

She opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sight of the Captain walking urgently into the medbay. Instead of the genuinely interested questions that were on the tip of her tongue, she said, in a voice that she hoped was low and sultry – though that was hard to achieve on pain medication – ‘I look forward to working with you in the future, Doctor Alver.’

Luisa smiled in response. ‘And I you. I’ll leave you two alone.’ Before leaving, however, she turned to Captain Anderson – the man in charge of the ship and _technically_ her boss, and said, in a voice that brokered no argument, ‘Don’t tire her out too much, Captain. She needs her rest.’

Rose could barely resist rolling her eyes at the other woman, though a fond smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Luisa returned the expression in kind.

Yes, they were both very much looking forward to working ~~under~~ with each other.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKIE!!!!!!! You're probably the sweetest person I've ever met, and I hope you have a really good day.

So, she’d done it – the first human spectre, a shining example of everything humanity has to offer. It has a nice ring to it, and Rose allowed herself a moment to revel in this victory. She’d grown up a nobody, known by few and significant to even fewer. That had begun to change once she’d started to make a name for herself in the gang, but even it couldn’t compare to the accolades she’d receive now. Apparently, they were planning on using her face for recruitment ads.

However, the moment for celebration soon passed as she reminded herself that she had a job to do. Her title and instructions weren’t the only thing they had acquired in the Citadel – no, somehow she’d managed to amass a plethora of new squadmates. Most of them non-human, too.

She’d never spent much time with aliens – few visited earth, wary of both its reputation and that of its inhabitants. She’d had sporadic encounters with them during her earlier alliance service, but they’d always been inclined to treat her with distrust – the title ‘ _Butcher of Torfan’_ hanging ever-present over her head – so she’d regarded them similarly.

These aliens, though. . . they were interesting. The turian, Garrus, seemed an atypical example of his species, based on what she’d heard of them. He seemed to have no problem going against the wishes of his superiors in helping her to expose Saren, perhaps damaging his own career prospects in the process.  And he was one hell of a shot – she could use him.

She’d never met a quarrian before Tali – they tended to stick to their flotilla – so she was unable to tell if the girl was exactly normal. She talked a lot, and very rapidly – Rose found it difficult to keep up with at times, and it wasn’t entirely worth the emotional effort – but there was something almost. . . _cute_ about her, too. She’d reserve judgement.  

She was a little more familiar with the krogan – since most of them worked as mercs, a few had managed to find themselves stationed on earth – and Wrex was both similar and dissimilar to the impressions she’d formed. He was certainly loud and brash – and wielded a shotgun with a deadly accuracy – but there was also something. . . more, beneath the surface. She hadn’t quite figured out what it was yet, but she’d get there.

She talked to these people first, getting a feel for their personalities and whether or not she’d be able to trust them in the field of battle. Rose didn’t trust easily. Having to rely so heavily on a team of people was the one thing she disliked about being a soldier – she’d much rather rely on her own smarts, her own abilities, her own determination – than hand her safety – but more importantly, her _success_ – over to another person. But _maybe_ these guys would be better, who knew?

She deliberately saved the med-bay for last. Her encounter with Dr. Alver the other day had been. . . better than she’d expected it to be. She hadn’t gotten along all that well with the previous doctor, had never liked being poked or prodded at, but she thought that it was a hell of a lot more bearable when it was Dr. Alver doing the poking and prodding.

‘Well, well,’ said Luisa as Rose stepped into the med-bay, ‘I was wondering when the great and noble first human spectre would make time to visit me. I had heard that you’d been doing the rounds.’ Though her words appeared strict, there was a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Rose preened in response to the use of her full title and shrugged magnanimously. ‘I try to make time for all my subjects, no matter how lowly they may be.’

Luisa laughed, unable to keep up the mock-offence any longer. ‘So,’ she asked, genuine curiosity in her voice, ‘How was your trip to the Citadel?’

Rose straightened up, and gave Luisa a blow-by-blow account of the mission, making sure that no detail was spared.

Luisa’s brow furrowed as Rose got further and further into her story. ‘That’s very interesting,’ she said, a tinge of frustration in her voice, ‘But not exactly what I meant. I’ve read the mission report, I already know about all your heroic deeds. I want to know what it _felt_ like, what you thought of all the people, all the places.’

Rose stared at her blankly for a moment, her mind registering the question. She’d never really been asked that before – normally, when she returned to the ship after a job, it was a mission report that her commanding officer wanted, so that was what she supplied. They didn’t want to know her feelings – Alliance brass often relied on her because they believed her not to have any – and she wouldn’t have been comfortable sharing with them, anyway.

But how hard could it be, really? She opened her mouth, ready to speak in her usual confident tone, but hesitated, unable to quite get the words out.

‘It’s okay,’ Luisa said, understanding in her eyes, ‘Take your time.’

‘It felt. . . frustrating. Or at least part of it did.’ Rose was surprised by the words coming out of her own mouth – she hadn’t realised that she felt this way. ‘There was. . . a lot of talking, a lot of waiting around, a lot of _diplomacy_.’ Her face crinkled a little at the word, retaining an almost disgusted quality. ‘I needed to walk on eggshells, or there was a chance the council would have deemed me inappropriate for the position.’

Luisa nodded, a sympathetic smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. ‘There’ll be more of that in the days to come. You’re the first human spectre – you’ll be living under a microscope. All your actions, your decisions – they’ll be watched, judged, and held up as a measure of humanity’s ability to succeed. Sometimes, the best solution may not always be the violent one.’

Rose felt her stomach twist at Luisa’s news. It wasn’t exactly brand-new information – the Council had essentially said as much during the officiating ceremony, though she’d been too high off her success to really notice – but it was still somewhat. . . unsettling. It did make sense, though. And it may not necessary be a _bad_ thing – yes, trying to wrangle fools into accepting the diplomatic outcome would be annoying as fuck, but she liked the idea of having the power to shape the course of human history. She’d grown up as nothing, it was about time she had a chance to leave her mark.

Luisa, as the daughter of a politician, understood the position that Rose was in better than most. She understood living under a microscope – she’d been doing it most of her life, after all – but the news couldn’t be easy to hear. In an attempt to clear the tension that had suddenly sprung up between them, Luisa swallowed a breath, and said, ‘So, you know, no pressure.’

Rose chuckled, feeling more herself than she had a moment ago. ‘Oh, I can handle a bit of pressure.’

Luisa quirked an eyebrow, and smiled. ‘Oh, I’m sure you can.’

They stared at each other for a moment then, neither quite willing to look away.  Finally, Luisa looked down first, and cleared her throat. ‘How’d you find the Citadel itself?’

Rose blinked, trying to will away the surge of powerful yet very distracting attraction she’d just felt. Her efforts weren’t entirely successful. ‘Um,’ she said, once again unsure, ‘It was. . . big? And there was a lot of people. It was very. . . station-like.’

Luisa looked at her, torn between amusement and disapprovement. ‘You didn’t go beyond where you had to for the mission, did you?’

Rose shook her head. ‘There wasn’t a lot of time. I was pretty focused on the whole rising-up-to-previously-unattainable-ranks thing. Sightseeing wasn’t a priority.’

‘You forgot to mention taking down a corrupt government agent.’

Rose waved a hand dismissively. ‘That too.’

‘Fine,’ Luisa said, sighing dramatically. ‘But please tell me you’ve at least been shopping in the Presidium, visited the Arcade, gone to Purgatory?’

Rose shook her head, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. ‘Nope. Never even heard of some of them.’

Luisa, with the disgust only a native could muster, looked at her askance. ‘Alright, that’s it – next time we’re at the Citadel, I’m bringing you on a tour. You’re going to see _everything_ , whether you want to or not.’

Rose laughed. Normally, this demand would irk her – she hated most forms of pro-longed socialising – but when Luisa was asking, she found she didn’t mind all that much. ‘It’s a date,’ she said, without thinking. Her eyes widened comically wide as she realised what she had just said, and she rushed to correct herself. ‘Or, you know, not a date –’

She would have continued in that vein for quite some time, had Luisa not interrupted her with a chuckle. ‘No,’ said the brunette, a bright smile on her face, ‘It’s a date.’

Rose smiled back tentatively in response – despite her earlier bravado, she really had little idea of how to respond to this situation – and Luisa decided to spare her the awkwardness. ‘So,’ she said, voice suddenly all business, ‘Where are we headed next?’

Rose, grateful for the reprieve, said, ‘Therum. I need to find a scientist – Dr. Liara T’Soni. Apparently, she has familial connections to one of Saren’s top lieutenants.’

‘Well,’ Luisa said, concern tinging her voice, ‘Make sure you come back safe. I need you intact for our date.’


End file.
